![\"Back](\"https:\/\/images.coachingforleaders.com\/cb:ztCJ~31fd5\/w:1024\/h:682\/q:mauto\/f:best\/ig:avif\/https:\/\/teachinginhighered.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/08\/back-to-school.jpg\")
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We just started our semester this week. My second day of classes begins tomorrow. It has been fun getting to know our students a bit and experiencing all the energy and chaos that a new academic year can bring.<\/p>\n
Here is what I've got “packed” in my bag for the start to school:<\/p>\n
I discovered the Grid-It organizer<\/a> a couple of years ago and have found it extremely helpful in not leaving things behind in the classroom. One of my colleagues will tell you that as recently as yesterday, I left my adapter behind in the classroom. But, it sure doesn't happen nearly anywhere near as often as it used to… And I make sure and label everything I might potentially leave behind, to lessen the likelihood of losing items forever.<\/p>\n This<\/a> polling service has been my go-to tool for helping the students discover the power of retrieval practice<\/a>. I get by with the free version, which allows for up to 40 anonymous respondents at one time. While I do have times in the classroom when we are device-free, there's something about starting a semester by encouraging the students to take out their phones and to engage in that manner that surprises them.<\/p>\n My preference is to move about the classroom, without being stuck behind a laptop to advance my slides. While I know there are now options to advance slides on one's Apple Watch or mobile phone, I still have a preference for a wireless presenter remote<\/a>. I own two different types of wireless presenters, which I like equally well. As long as they fit easily in my hand and I'm unlikely to accidentally press the button to advance a slide when I didn't intend to, they work great for me.<\/p>\n I've been a user of various stylus devices for decades now. Apple Pencil<\/a> is hands down the best one I've ever used. I use a blended learning approach in most of my classes. I typically don't lecture in the in-person classes, but instead create what I call pencasts (which are videos of me talking about a topic, while drawing like a seven year-old, images that make the main points much more memorable). The Apple Pencil glides across the iPad screen and allows for adding color and varying the\u00a0pen\/pencil thickness easily.<\/p>\n The app that I have found most useful for capturing \/ creating pencasts is Doceri<\/a>. I first sketch out whatever the drawing is going to be for the pencast. Doceri<\/a> is recording a video of my ever pencil stroke, for playback when adding in the audio portion. When I record myself narrating the drawing portion, I can pause the playback of my pencil strokes, as well as slow them down. I used to need to draw at the same time as talking, which I found to be incredibly difficult. Doceri and the Apple Pencil are game-changers for those who want to create pencasts.<\/p>\n What's “packed” in your bag for the start of your academic year?\u00a0<\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" We just started our semester this week. My second day of classes begins tomorrow. It has been fun getting to know our students a bit and experiencing all the energy and chaos that a new academic year can bring. Here is what I’ve got “packed” in my bag for the start to school: Grit-It Organizer […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":3715,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"_genesis_hide_title":false,"_genesis_hide_breadcrumbs":false,"_genesis_hide_singular_image":false,"_genesis_hide_footer_widgets":false,"_genesis_custom_body_class":"","_genesis_custom_post_class":"","_genesis_layout":"","footnotes":"","_links_to":"","_links_to_target":""},"categories":[6],"tags":[],"coauthors":[195],"class_list":{"0":"post-3714","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-resources","8":"entry","9":"gs-1","10":"gs-odd","11":"gs-even","12":"gs-featured-content-entry"},"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/teachinginhighered.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3714","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/teachinginhighered.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/teachinginhighered.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/teachinginhighered.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/teachinginhighered.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=3714"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/teachinginhighered.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3714\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/teachinginhighered.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/3715"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/teachinginhighered.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=3714"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/teachinginhighered.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=3714"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/teachinginhighered.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=3714"},{"taxonomy":"author","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/teachinginhighered.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/coauthors?post=3714"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}Poll Everywhere<\/a><\/h3>\n
Wireless Presenter<\/a><\/h3>\n
Apple Pencil<\/a><\/h3>\n
Doceri<\/a><\/h3>\n